Oil dip stick surprise

[Ratfade]

Just curious; why isn't this a problem with cars?

[koko3052]

It is.

[PoorUB]

It can happen in cars, but liquid cooling gets the engine at operating  temp sooner and keeps it there. Air cooling engine temps vary greatly with ambient temp and load.

[kd]

Pull a rocker cover off a short trip vehicle and see.  Up here in the northern winters, I have seen rockers almost invisible due to build-up in extreme cases like seniors taking daily short trips only.

[FXDBI]

Pull a rocker cover off a short trip vehicle and see.  Up here in the northern winters, I have seen rockers almost invisible due to build-up in extreme cases like seniors taking daily short trips only.

  I make it a point of running the car for a hour min in the coldest times,  I also run a winter front to keep the cold air out of the radiator and engine area. Also keep the tank on the top half as opposed to the bottom. That moisture will build up inside a gas tank as well. Colder it gets the more the moisture migrates to any warmth.  Bob

[kd]

.... and ethanol sucks up that moisture big time.   

[Psychro]

What oil are you using 

HD 20w50

[PoorUB]

Different types of oil can affect this. Years back I ran Penzoil and the valve covers were full of white scum. I switched to Havoline and it wet away.

But short trips with a car and it can happen.

[JW113]

Quit worrying so much, you are not killing your engine by riding it in the winter.

This is the reason they put acid neutralizers in oil. Clean out the white crap you see, change your oil maybe a little more often than usual, and you have no worries. And yes, a weekly 50 mile ride won't hurt either.

-JW

[Phu Cat]

Acid neutralizes?  Never heard of such a thing.  To neutralize acid you'd have to use something with a high pH, which would also be bad for an engine.

I learned from the lubrication engineers in the refinery I worked in that oil must reach a minimum of 160 degrees F for the water to just start being evaporated out of the oil.  Getting your oil that hot in cold weather is going to require a LONG ride at high enough speed to produce the horsepower necessary to get your oil temp to 160.  We're talking several hundred miles in the winter.  Just because your engine feels hot to your hand doesn't mean your oil temp is high enough.  This is one of the few times a temp ga. Is handy.

PC

[Psychro]

It seemed a pretty simple question.  Learning from all the great and interesting responses!

[JW113]

Either do a web search for "engine oil additives", or simply go to wikipedia and search for "oil additives". Then we can talk about additives that neutralize acids.

-JW

[Y2KRKNG]

Trying to stay in the same ballpark as the subject at hand. Warning  ; Straight weight(Dyno), multi(Dyno), and multi (full Syn) have to react to this winter moisture very differently. Perhaps the HD 20-50(SEMI-Syn) is not the best type of earl.

[JW113]

I would say the difference in reaction to water and cold weather, whether mineral, synth, or brand, is based on the additive package.

-JW

[tdrglide]

 I would think that while there may be additives that help prevent acids forming, how much water gets emulsified with the oil under the same conditions might have more to do with the kind of base stock.
It's January 
Next time you have a day off and the roads are dry,ish burn a full tank of gas and check again

[FLHRI_2004]

Just curious; why isn't this a problem with cars?

Yeah, I had a '70 Volvo that did this a lot in winter.  The greasy foam would build up in the oil cap.  I'd just shake it out of the cap and onto the ground and move on.
I haven't seen this in any of the late model cars I've had.

[92flhtcu]

The late model cars have this issue big time on short trippers. Ask any BMW owner or Chev 2.4 Equinox owners, they usually gunk up the CCVS(Crank Case Vent System) todays name for PCV

[smoserx1]

I have had it happen on a couple of cars too.  A 55 Chevy with a straight 6 and a 66 ford with a 352 V8.  Both times on the dip stick and under the oil filler caps.  I have been changing my own oil since I was a teenager and I have never once seen this residue actually come out with the oil that was changed.  Like I said earlier it seems to manifest itself in regions of the engines (and the oil pans of Harley bikes) that are cooler than the rest of the engine and to me that makes perfect sense.  If I actually saw it in the oil I would worry, otherwise I don't consider it a problem.

[PoorUB]

Back in the 70's I worked at a Standard Oil station. At the time there was a Purolator Courier Co, similar to FedEx or UPS. I believe they are still running in Canada. They would come on for gas everyday. Even in the summer time their engines had that pastey crap in the valve covers. I remember they ran Penzoil. None of us that worked there would run Penzoil because of it.

[Hossamania]

Arnold Palmer told all our parents to use Pennzoil. When I saw what it had done to valve train and valve cover on the car I got from my mom, it was Valvoline from then on. It looked like someone had poured wax all over the top end. Just like the op's picture.

[Dan89flstc]

Nothing to get worked up about, the goop in the top of the dipstick opening is formed by moisture condensing, it is (to this extent) in the oil in the engine, it is just occurring right in the area you can see in the opening.

Wipe that crap out, and run the bike on the road long enough to get the oil up to normal temp.

[Phu Cat]

The length of time an engine is run is only half the equation.  It must be run hard enough to generate a lot of horsepower as horsepower equals heat.  Just running around at 40-50 MPH isn't going to get the oil HOT.  According to the lubrication engineers I worked with, moisture won't even START to boil off until the oil temp gets to at least 160 degrees F. on an engine with good enough rings to produce vacuum in the crankcase.

PC

[IronButt70]

The length of time an engine is run is only half the equation.  It must be run hard enough to generate a lot of horsepower as horsepower equals heat.  Just running around at 40-50 MPH isn't going to get the oil HOT.  According to the lubrication engineers I worked with, moisture won't even START to boil off until the oil temp gets to at least 160 degrees F. on an engine with good enough rings to produce vacuum in the crankcase.

PC

This comes from the FWIW dept. I hate idiot lights so I installed oil pressure and temp gauges and an oil cooler on my 17 softail. I actually have 2 temp gauges. One that measures the temp after passing through the oil cooler and one in the tank. When running down the superslab at 75 the cooler gauge will read 180. The tank gauge will read 205. The cooler has a 170 thermostat.  There are sections of the local superslab where the speed limit drops to 55 for about 10 miles. When I run 55 the cooler gauge will go up to 185. The tank gauge goes up very little if at all. When I go back to 75 the cooler gauge will drop back to 180. Of course these numbers don't mean much on a bike without the cooler but in my case the oil temp coming from the cooler is definitely related to the airflow going through it. I've been caught in stop and go traffic where the oil temps got up to 220 on both gauges so it would seem they do measure accurately. I also had a temp gauge on my 04 ultra without a cooler. At superslab speeds it would be up to 240 on hot summer days.

[Phu Cat]

At superslab speeds it would be up to 240 on hot summer days.

You're on the right track IronButt.  Oil additive packages have a lot to do with when oil gets so hot it starts to break down, but it's hotter than most of us will ever see driving normally in moving traffic.  If you're stuck in traffic, that's a whole nother issue.  I suspect after spend a big wad on a new bike, most of us don't want our oil getting too hot.  So, how do you tell what's too hot?  A) have your oil test by a lab, $35 the last time I did mine, or B) check your dipstick when riding in cool weather as mentioned above.  Hot oil is better than cool oil IMO.

PC

[IronButt70]

At superslab speeds it would be up to 240 on hot summer days.

You're on the right track IronButt.  Oil additive packages have a lot to do with when oil gets so hot it starts to break down, but it's hotter than most of us will ever see driving normally in moving traffic.  If you're stuck in traffic, that's a whole nother issue.  I suspect after spend a big wad on a new bike, most of us don't want our oil getting too hot.  So, how do you tell what's too hot?  A) have your oil test by a lab, $35 the last time I did mine, or B) check your dipstick when riding in cool weather as mentioned above.  Hot oil is better than cool oil IMO.

PC

When the oil tank burns my fingers in 2 seconds I'm guessing the oil is hot enough.    That was the temp test before the dipstick gauge. Only time I see any white oily stuff is when I drain the catch can.